More great stuff for Give Simple!! Monday night I was far too exhausted to blog, so now I am catching up on the plane on the way home.
My favorite part of the show is the section called “Accent on Design.” This is where most of the clean, contemporary looking products are presented. These are the products and look that fit well with the Give Simple mantra of Fun, Great Design, and Good Value.
This area is where, on Monday we met with our biggest Melamine suppliers, French Bull and Working Class Studio. Both of these suppliers have introduced cool new patterns. French Bull has a several new pattern s, we most love the one that consists of four bright colors. We’ll be selling down and exiting some of the older patterns to make way. Working Class Studio has (finally) added some new patterns. We love their original line, but 2 years is a long time to wait for something new! Our absolute favorite new look is the salad plates with vegetables on them. We also found an adorable new melamine line that uses photographs of food to make the decals on their bowls. So the large bowls have photos of popcorn, or salad, or pasta on the inside. The small bowls have mixed nuts, or olives or popcorn. Just a fun little twist. Melamine is a very playful category for us.
We found a handbags and accessories line that we will add in Accent on Design, too. Terrific nylon totes in fun bright colors, plus the cutest varieties of the very important lunch tote. As people started reacting to the gas prices, the first thing to cut back on was Starbucks. The second thing is eating lunch out. People are either trading down to a Subway ($5 foot-long, anyone?) or bringing lunch from home. A brown bag is not appealing, and your handbag (no matter how oversized!) doesn’t work, in your tote bag, your laptop will smoosh that banana. Plus who wants a sandwich or leftovers that have been out of the fridge for hours and hours? What you need is an insulated lunch tote. We have them already from Murval, but we’re adding 10 new options in the next few weeks. After all, your lunch tote should coordinate with your outfit!
We met with another one of our all time favorite vendors, PeaceLoveMom, on Monday afternoon. T-shirts so cool, I wish I could wear them (I don’t think dog mom really counts!) Suzanne just has so much energy and is so much fun to work with. Great way to end the day.
Tuesday bright and early we met with our friends at Stein&Blye to work on some holiday jewelry. Pearl, bead and stone in illusion necklaces, small cluster drop earrings and coordinated trios of stretchy bracelets. Beautiful shades of sophisticated grey, creamy pearl white, girly pink, and the hot fashion shade purple are in the works for October. After that a mother of pearl flowers in pretty resort colors will come in for December.
At the Piers, the third and thank goodness final part of the show, we found a resource for adorable baby gifts. Then it was a sprint across the street to our car, and off to the airport. We need to get home and make all of these great products reality on Give Simple!! Lots of work ahead!!

I’m sorry to say that we did not have a celebrity sighting this time at our favorite after theater restaurant. But as we walked over after our show, we solved the mystery of why Tom Cruise was eating at our restaurant last market. The NY Church of Scientology is only one block away! I don’t think this explains Jerry Seinfeld, but I for one, will keep a sharp eye out for John Travolta in the future.

Our show was AMAZING, though. When you’re in NY next, see In the Heights. Very high energy show that won the 2008 Tony for best musical, and best score.

Today at market, more great stuff for Give Simple!! We worked with another vendor we love, Dogeared Jewels. They have a great California vibe with their petite and sweet necklaces. Their mission is to bring more good energy into the world, and we love how they live that out. We’ll be doing more “PEACE” products with them this holiday to honor the 50th anniversary of a symbol we need more than ever.

We found some new, cool products, too, like eco friendly foldable cups (sounds weird, but trust me, you will want these for stocking stuffers, and for your own travel) and for you frequent flyers, a very compact pillow and blanket combo for airlines now that some of them charge for these items now. (I was always too germ-a-phobic to use those blankets anyway)

We will be adding the fabulous line Thymes soon, for great spa products and home fragrance. Some of their classic scents, like Gold Leaf and Eucalyptus have a cult following, while Kimono Rose has attracted a whole new generation of younger consumers. They have the best holiday fragrance EVER, Frazier Fir. This is the candle you will want to give everyone for the holidays.

We’re considering a new pajama line that actually gives some bust support (for those who want a little help fighting gravity, like me). We are also excited about our favorite robes coming out in patterns. The Pine Cone Hill Super Soft Robe in leopard!! and a stylish toile pattern, too. Plus new pajama patterns.

Dinner outside on the patio at Blue Water Grill, just across Union Square from out hotel. The weather is glorious here, clear blue skies and highs in the low 80’s.
Until tomorrow…

My friend Lynne thinks that going to market just sounds so exciting. She suggested that I blog every night of market so that she can experience this vicariously.
It’s Saturday. We took the morning flight from Houston to Newark so that we can get through the Handmade portion of the show today. (No weekend for us, we work three hours today, and 9-6 tomorrow) On the plane, I read today’s Chronicle and Wall Street Journal, three back issues of the Journal, nine back issues of Women’s Wear Daily, and four industry trade journals. Out of all that, I ripped out 11 items of relevance.
In forecasting trends for Handbags and Shoes, Women’s Wear calls out several I agree with:
Sea World -- Dive into an ocean of blue and green
For Pleats Sake -- Bags to welcome you into the fold
Cat Power—Lots of Spots for sex-kitten chic (our favorite –we love leopard everything)
Hard Core Exotica—Ostrich bags give you goose bump (this is incoming, and we’ll only try a little)
Rainbow Connection –resort accessories are packed with bright hues
Here’s what we saw today. More jewelry than you can possibly imagine. Now this sounds fabulous, if you’ve got a lot of money to spend and all the time in the world. But if you want to add 1 or 2 lines and you have to look at 300, it’s a lot. We did get to visit our friends Sabrina and Glena from Pick Up Sticks. These girls are delightful. They are cousins who started a company of photo charms together, and they have a wicked sense of humor to go along with it. Lynne will have to wear their new necklace that says “Shake it Baby” on one side, and has a martini glass on the other. It has a tiny silver martini glass charm on it also. I’ll wear the one that says “Women spend more than eight years of their lives shopping” (well, for me, more like 16 years) it has a cute tiny handbag charm, too.
Another huge category: Free Trade Products. I love this concept so much. But in selecting products for Give Simple, it can’t be the starting point. There are websites that specialize in Free Trade items that can sell the gamut, but I need to fall in love with the product FIRST. I might buy something free trade that I did not love for a friend who is completely socially responsible, but not for my customers. Still looking. There must be free trade items out there that are fabulous first, with free trade as a bonus.
Okay, have to shower before the theater. Seeing In the Heights. Dinner afterwards where we sat next to Tom Cruise in May market. We could get lucky, but unlikely to see someone that famous again. Until tomorrow…

My friend Lynne thinks that going to market just sounds so exciting. She suggested that I blog every night of market so that she can experience this vicariously.
It’s Saturday. We took the morning flight from Houston to Newark so that we can get through the Handmade portion of the show today. (No weekend for us, we work three hours today, and 9-6 tomorrow) On the plane, I read today’s Chronicle and Wall Street Journal, three back issues of the Journal, nine back issues of Women’s Wear Daily, and four industry trade journals. Out of all that, I ripped out 11 items of relevance.
In forecasting trends for Handbags and Shoes, Women’s Wear calls out several I agree with:
Sea World -- Dive into an ocean of blue and green
For Pleats Sake -- Bags to welcome you into the fold
Cat Power—Lots of Spots for sex-kitten chic (our favorite –we love leopard everything)
Hard Core Exotica—Ostrich bags give you goose bump (this is incoming, and we’ll only try a little)
Rainbow Connection –resort accessories are packed with bright hues
Here’s what we saw today. More jewelry than you can possibly imagine. Now this sounds fabulous, if you’ve got a lot of money to spend and all the time in the world. But if you want to add 1 or 2 lines and you have to look at 300, it’s a lot. We did get to visit our friends Sabrina and Glena from Pick Up Sticks. These girls are delightful. They are cousins who started a company of photo charms together, and they have a wicked sense of humor to go along with it. Lynne will have to wear their new necklace that says “Shake it Baby” on one side, and has a martini glass on the other. It has a tiny silver martini glass charm on it also. I’ll wear the one that says “Women spend more than eight years of their lives shopping” (well, for me, more like 16 years) it has a cute tiny handbag charm, too.
Another huge category: Free Trade Products. I love this concept so much. But in selecting products for Give Simple, it can’t be the starting point. There are websites that specialize in Free Trade items that can sell the gamut, but I need to fall in love with the product FIRST. I might buy something free trade that I did not love for a friend who is completely socially responsible, but not for my customers. Still looking. There must be free trade items out there that are fabulous first, with free trade as a bonus.
Okay, have to shower before the theater. Seeing In the Heights. Dinner afterwards where we sat next to Tom Cruise in May market. We could get lucky, but unlikely to see someone that famous again. Until tomorrow…

My friend Lynne thinks that going to market just sounds so exciting. She suggested that I blog every night of market so that she can experience this vicariously.
It’s Saturday. We took the morning flight from Houston to Newark so that we can get through the Handmade portion of the show today. (No weekend for us, we work three hours today, and 9-6 tomorrow) On the plane, I read today’s Chronicle and Wall Street Journal, three back issues of the Journal, nine back issues of Women’s Wear Daily, and four industry trade journals. Out of all that, I ripped out 11 items of relevance.
In forecasting trends for Handbags and Shoes, Women’s Wear calls out several I agree with:
Sea World -- Dive into an ocean of blue and green
For Pleats Sake -- Bags to welcome you into the fold
Cat Power—Lots of Spots for sex-kitten chic (our favorite –we love leopard everything)
Hard Core Exotica—Ostrich bags give you goose bump (this is incoming, and we’ll only try a little)
Rainbow Connection –resort accessories are packed with bright hues
Here’s what we saw today. More jewelry than you can possibly imagine. Now this sounds fabulous, if you’ve got a lot of money to spend and all the time in the world. But if you want to add 1 or 2 lines and you have to look at 300, it’s a lot. We did get to visit our friends Sabrina and Glena from Pick Up Sticks. These girls are delightful. They are cousins who started a company of photo charms together, and they have a wicked sense of humor to go along with it. Lynne will have to wear their new necklace that says “Shake it Baby” on one side, and has a martini glass on the other. It has a tiny silver martini glass charm on it also. I’ll wear the one that says “Women spend more than eight years of their lives shopping” (well, for me, more like 16 years) it has a cute tiny handbag charm, too.
Another huge category: Free Trade Products. I love this concept so much. But in selecting products for Give Simple, it can’t be the starting point. There are websites that specialize in Free Trade items that can sell the gamut, but I need to fall in love with the product FIRST. I might buy something free trade that I did not love for a friend who is completely socially responsible, but not for my customers. Still looking. There must be free trade items out there that are fabulous first, with free trade as a bonus.
Okay, have to shower before the theater. Seeing In the Heights. Dinner afterwards where we sat next to Tom Cruise in May market. We could get lucky, but unlikely to see someone that famous again. Until tomorrow…

The repeat of a great vacation is seldom great. Unless you travel with the Frio River Gypsy Mensa Chapter, in which case, the repeat can be as good as the original!
We carefully selected one new member to join us, and we had the perfect mix of repeat experiences and new adventures. Since the water in the Frio was low (drought) we decided to forgo the more adventurous four hour float through the rocky rapids and enjoy the river within walking distance of our cabin. This involved connecting all 7 inner tubes together in a giant circle, and pretty much lying around in the deliciously cool water for several hours at a time. The Frio is aptly named (it means cold in Spanish) and is fed by many fresh little springs.
Sangria was the river drink of choice, while multiple bottles of wine were toted into the “bring your own bottle” restaurants in this part of Texas. We doubt our waiter at the Sabinal Grill had ever seen anyone at lunch with an entire van full of booze to choose from! “One for each of you?” asked sweet Sal, the proprietor of Vinnie’s restaurant, eyeing our wine bottles the next night. Yes, the Gypsies make quite an impression…
The Gypsies astounded several other people who were floating on the river with true confessions about the enhancement of certain body parts of a certain Gypsy. (no, I can’t say who -- what is said on the river stays on the river!!) That was an accident. The second time we passed them, the story about the ménage a trois was on purpose (if considerably less true)
I have to say that it is just so refreshing, relaxing and revitalizing to spend a weekend with good girl friends. We all agree that once a year is not enough. We are probably too busy to get away for a weekend each quarter, but are considering a spa day, or a day at one of the cool hotel pool scenes around Houston. It takes more than a few hours to get into full Gypsy mode.
I said I would explain the name of our troupe. When you have 6 women in a van, Gypsies seems like a good name. The reason we are a Mensa Chapter is that when were playing word games last year on Friday night, we were so brilliant, and it was so easy, that we decided we must all be absolute geniuses. We can’t be sure how many Sangrias, Margaritas, or “Sangriaritas” had been consumed by then. Never mind that we were playing the games all wrong…
Ladies, take my advice, get a group of your girls together and create an adventure of your own. Your kids, your husband, your work, your responsibilities (and even Give Simple) can all wait for three days while you renew your spirit by reveling in the pleasure of women.

Great stuff for Girl’s Weekends abounds at Give Simple! And Girl’s Weekends are absolutely essential!
I’m all excited because we’re off for the second annual Gypsy Frio River Mensa Chapter retreat on Friday. Seven women, seven inner tubes, and several gallons of sangria, margaritas, and when things really get crazy, sangriaritas!
We’ll all be wearing our matching domino necklaces from last year! Well, maybe not when we are actually floating. We’ll wear them in the van on the way there, and out to dinner in the tiny town of Leakey, Texas, just in case anyone CAN”T TELL that we are all together.
Matching jewelry, bags, or t-shirts just make the sisterhood stronger. So the next time you and your dearest friends decide to do girl bonding, spring for some matching gear!
Some ideas:
Matching Murval tote bags – these are so well priced, and they hold lots of stuff, like tequila, trashy tabloids, pedicure tools, and snacks
Matching Metalsgirl Bangles – how about a Friend bangle for each of you? Or if you plan ahead, order the custom version, it can say whatever you want!
Matching Domino Necklaces! The proven favorite!
Matching t-shirts!! Thera-wear makes some fantastic sassy logos, from Share the Drama to Just Happy to be Here, or for you pre-planners, your own sassy saying. Their t-shirts are high quality, with an easy fit and a wide range of sizes.
What about a classic pajama party?? Matching pajama and/or robes from Pine Cone Hill are a bit of a splurge, but think how much you will all smile every time you wear them throughout the year.
Why is it called the Gypsy Frio River Mensa Chapter??? Stay tuned for my after the trip report.

Give Simple believes that gifts that benefit good causes are two presents in one! The recipient gets a great gift, and a little bit of goodness goes back into the world around us. With that in mind, we are adding products to Give Simple that donate a significant portion of their proceeds to charity.

Giving great gifts is only one element of the Give Simple philosophy. We believe in taking positive strides toward making life better for ourselves and those around us. We will be adding many new items that benefit a variety of wonderful causes in the next few months, stay tuned. If you have any recommendations for us, please share!

Our first big effort supports a cause close to our hearts. We are the guardians of three much beloved Golden Retrievers. Champ is the 13 year old genius of the family, Stormy is our spirited but sweet 5 year old girl, and Cody is our gorgeous 3 year old monster. We chose Saving Animals as our first focus charity for Gifts that Give Back.

The Saving Animals mission is to eliminate financial, geographical, and cultural barriers that cause animal suffering. Saving Animals provides the highest quality sterilization and veterinary services for dogs and cats and promotes their physical and emotional well being through education and adoption.

Saving Animal’s Fix Houston is a five year plan to create a model major American city where there are no homeless dogs and cats. More than $2 Million has been committed to build and equip five new spay and neuter clinics in Houston. An additional $3 Million must be raised to achieve the goal of sterilizing 60,000 dogs and cats each year to end animal homelessness by 2013.

As supporters of several animal rescue groups, we can see that no matter how many people adopt animals (and we believe 100% in adoption instead of buying pets from breeders), we can’t adopt our way out of the problem of hundreds of thousands of homeless animals across the United States.

We believe Saving Animals can lead the way to improving the quality of life for dogs and cats. They add so much to our lives, it’s important to do something in return.

Learn more at http://www.savinganimals.org
When we learned that Laura Gibson, aka Metalsgirl, the most successful Jewelry maker on Give Simple, was involved in Animal Rescue, it just gave us one more reason to love her! Laura is involved with Blue Dog Rescue in Austin, Texas, a group that has saved over 1200 lives through adoption. She shares her studio with 11 (yes eleven!) dogs and 2 cats. This makes Laura a hero in our eyes.

Laura has designed a special version of her best selling hammered sterling silver Inspirational Bangle to benefit Saving Animals.

On the cat bangle, the sterling charm has a paw print and the words "Cat's Meow" The purple resin charm has a bit of spearmint for happiness.

On the dog bangle, the sterling charm has a paw print and the words “For the love of dog” The red resin charm has a bit of clove for love and protection.

$3 from every bracelet will be donated to Saving Animals.

AT LONG LAST! Give Simple has been waiting for months to get our hands on the Murval Truly Green tote bags. We saw them the first week of February in New York, and we’ve been waiting ever since (So have some of our customers!)
I’ve been on a personal “No bag, thanks” campaign for some time, since reading in 2006 that paper bags may be as big a problem in landfills as plastic, and take more energy to produce. It’s fascinating how easy it is to get your sacker at Whole Foods to use the bags you brought, and how it totally befuddles the sackers at Kroger. The Kroger sacker will even bag things like the gigantic bottle of liquid detergent that takes up an entire bag. I try to tell them nicely to use as few bags as possible, but I wish someone would train them just a little.
It’s amazing how many bags I can avoid just on my weekly errands. Card store, book store, drugstore, cosmetics counter… My “no bag, thanks” has also expanded to other things I just don’t need. I know it’s free, but I don’t need it. The look on the face of the Neiman Marcus cosmetics salesperson was priceless. You don’t want the free tote? No, I have plenty.
The Murval totes are great in three ways:
1) They save bags from going in to landfill
2) They are themselves TOTALLY organic. From the cotton to the button to the ink in the thread, and the hang tag, all carefully selected to not harm the earth. The bags are even shipped to us in recycled paper envelopes instead of the usual plastic.
3) Proceeds from the bags go to the Environmental Media Association a driving force in educating people about environmental issues.
Actually, four ways, because these are the official gift bag of the VH1 Rock Honors. At home, we’ve watched as some of the most talented musicians on the planet pay homage to The Who this week. It’s fun to think that we’ve got the same bags at give simple that the really cool people have!